He said it: Players and coaches respond after Stars’ 7-1 win against Toronto

“We didn’t expect it to go this way but we wanted to put another game in the “W” column and that’s certainly what we got. We got a couple of bounces that went our way and a couple of redirections that hadn’t been going in for a period of time and the flood gates opened up a little bit.”

On the Stars special teams play:

“Our power play has been going pretty well lately and our penalty kill has done a nice job. There was a big kill tonight and then they could have got some life off of, but instead we got the short-hander and then scored one right after one of their power plays. You want your power play to create come good energy and I thought tonight we didn’t give them a lot of zone time.”

On the Cody Eakin injury:

“I think he’s going to be okay. We’ll see tomorrow. I watched the hit and I feel from the angle I saw that primary contact was to the head. I don’t think he got his elbow up but I think his shoulder went right into Eakin’s head. It’s the type of play we’re trying to remove from the game.”

On the play of Valeri Nichushkin:

“It’s funny how that works. He had missed a great number of opportunities but the one that went off the skate, he was in the right spot and then got another rebound where he’s right in front of the net. It’s nice to see. He’s had some great opportunities that haven’t gone in for him and for him to get rewarded is great. His energy is back up and that can help us win games.”

On an all-around team effort:

“We made a lot of nice plays and our back end was good. It’s going to take different people on different nights to contribute and get on the score sheet. A lot of times the guys that kill the penalties don’t get a lot of credit, especially not on the score sheet but it’s a job that, if you can accomplish it, gives you a good chance to win.”

“Something we wanted to do this game is build off last game. That’s two good games together in a row – we were pretty good in all three zones, limited our turnovers and were successful because of it. I think we just have found our confidence again. We know how we have to play to win hockey games and you’ve seen that the last two game.”

On Valeri’s return to his line:

“I think he is a big part of that line and obviously he showed that tonight. He brings a lot of speed with great skill. He played a good game tonight.”

On the power play over the last few games:

“It’s important – the power play has been the difference in the game and it showed tonight. I think it was an all-around good special teams performance.”

On how they approach the next few games at home:

“We are just trying to take it one game at a time and get as many points as we can. We have a pretty big game coming up on Saturday and have to be ready for it.”

“I don’t know. When things are going bad, you seem to do the wrong thing at the wrong time. I think tonight we kept building, we kept trying to score, and that’s what you got to do to win. You can’t sit back and I think we did a good job of pushing forward and trying to get that next goal.”

On all the milestones in tonight’s game:

“Couple other milestones. Garbs and Dills had their 100th game. It was a big win for us. Probably a memorable win for those guys.”

On what the team can do to keep the winning streak going:

“Try to play with confidence. Obviously a pretty good team coming in on Saturday (Penguins). I think when we are confident we are a pretty dangerous team. We just got to keep it going and trying to build.”

On the importance of special teams:

“That can change games. I know power play goals (are big goals). Obviously, I think (Shawn Horcoff’s) goal, you know, 3-1, make it 4-1, it kind of almost puts the game out of reach. Those are big goals, I think every time your special teams plays well it’s a big boost.”

“Unexpected, disappointed, frustrated, all those things. We didn’t really have anything going for a good part of the hockey game. We started I thought with our fore-check going, and we were able to turn some pucks over. Then all of the sudden it was an open season on turnovers.”

On the goaltenders:

“Well I think they fit in with the rest of our team. I’m not going to throw those guys in any more than the rest of the group. We just didn’t have anything going and we just didn’t have it.”

On what to take from this game:

“Well, it’s going to make us do some thinking. It always does. Again, this is what happens in pro sports, and we’ve got to find a way to pick ourselves back up. We can’t let this linger with our group.”

“I think we just flush this one. I think we’ve been playing well as a team and there’s going to be games like this throughout the year that kind of might help us put down to even keel here. We were pretty confident and you know maybe a little over confident after that win streak we had, but we’ve still got a chance Saturday night to make this a really good road trip. So we’ve got to put this behind us and focus on Winnipeg.”

On not seeing the results they wanted:

“No, we weren’t skating. We weren’t winning battles. We were getting outsmarted pretty much all over the ice, and especially our line we were terrible. They outplayed us in every facet of the game, and it’s just one we have to put behind us.”

On how hard it is to reverse momentum when you are that far down:

“Yeah, I mean it’s tough. We should have done a better job at sticking with it. It was halfway through the second and it felt like we just kind of sat back and figured it was over, but there’s still lots of games left. All in all just a terrible game, and we just got to get passed it.”

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